Solicitor "Professional" Cost @ £600... Deal or No deal

siliconbits

I've received a quote for a house purchase and I'd like to know whether it is on the "OK side" or the "very expensive side". House Price is £130K

Professional Charges £600.00
VAT* £90.00

COMPULSORY PAYMENTS to others:
Stamp Duty (if applicable)
Land Registry Fees* £200.00
Land Registry Search Fees* £4.00
Land Registry Bankruptcy Fees* (per person) £1.00
Money Laundering Check (inc. VAT) per person

Total Estimate Costs and Disbursements £895.00

POTENTIAL & OPTIONAL PAYMENTS

Potential Payments (if applicable):
Buildings Insurance Administration Fee £ 85.00 plus VAT of £12.75
Leasehold Title Fee £175.00 plus V.A.T. of £26.25
Bank Electronic Transfer Fee £50.00 plus VAT of £7.50**
Lenders Legal Fees £175.00 plus VAT of £26.25 ***
Stamp Duty Land Transaction Return Fee £85.00 plus V.A.T of £12.75


Optional Payments:
Enviro Search Fee £51.75*
Plan Search £40.00*
Chancel Repairs Screening Report £30.00*

johnson293

My solicitors fees for buying a property at £100k were £660 inc vat, and that is with a pretty big (and from what I was told, Very Good) solicitors firm in Newcastle.

I had to pay £145 in advance to allow him to start the searches, and as part of my mortgage deal, i am getting £250 cashback towards legals.

So the final balance I expect to pay is £265, meaning my total outlay will have been £410 (allowing for the cashback).

But even at £660, I thought that wasn't a bad price, as my mortgage advisor told me to budget nearer £1100 for solicitors fees!

g_attrill

I've recently been quoted £540+VAT from Now Legal, on a no-sale no-fee basis, including the lender's legal fees. All the compulsory payments look fine, the bank transfer fee looks steep, I thought CHAPS was around £25? For Chancel Repairs I was offered an indemnity premium of £12 rather than a search fee. You can file your own Stamp Duty payment, so you might not want to pay them.

00ec25

Chaps is certainly £25 in a high street bank, I did one last week from HBOS. Maybe he needs to do two transfers?
I agree the many of the payments are correct - they are exactly as on LR website

lfc321

looks about right to me - similar to what we recently paid

Richard_Webster

The £175 plus VAT for the lender's legal fees is an extra that you will have to pay if you are getting a mortgage. I would say the £600 + VAT for a £130K freehold purchase was at the high end of reasonable anyway, including the work done for the lender!

If you arrange your own buildings insurance rather than use the lender's b;lock policy then you will have to pay the £85 admin fee.

On a purchase there should need to be one bank transfer free by the solicitor and £50 plus VAT is high.

So I'd say look around for someone a tad cheaper. Did they ask you if you were getting a mortgage? If so did theysay the £175 would be added on?